Enhanching Capacities to develop Sustainable Strategies in the Forestry Sector in Regional Africa
Over the past decades, progress towards Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Africa has been made at national and subregionallevels. At national level, 43 African countries have developed specific forest law and 40 have a national forest policy. At subregionallevel, efforts to harmonize policies and programmeshave resulted in the development of the Convergence Plan of the Central African Forests Commission and the Convergence Plan for the Sustainable Management and Use of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa. However, at regional level, no SFM programme framework for Africa had been formulated. The project aimed to develop an SFM programme framework for Africa, and to enhance the capacities of member countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to sustainably manage and develop their forestry sectors for social and economic development and long-term environmental protection.
What did the project do
The project developed a draft SFM programme framework for Africa. The development of the programme framework and its subsequent validation process provided a good basis for strong collaboration among the African Union Commission (AUC), FAO, member countries and relevant stakeholders. Women producers’ capacities were greatly strengthened in the production and marketing of gum Arabic, through the organization of participatory training courses. The courses provided a common and harmonized basis in the participating countries Gambia, Mali, Senegal and Sudan. The project addressed environmental issues in order to protect and restore natural resources and forests. The work carried out on policy, information sharing and communication will have a positive impact on forest policy and community forest management, and will ensure long-term sustainability of the project results, as well as benefiting the population and stakeholders’ community.Impact
The project contributed to improved economic development and environmental protection, and to enhanced resilience of people’s livelihoods to climate-change impacts in Africa. In particular, the training sessions provided women involved in the gum Arabic trade with the necessary skills and knowledge to collect the product sustainably, and to protect the environment and their own livelihoods through enhanced revenue generation and increased employment opportunities.Activities
- A number of activities were carried out for the formulation of the draft SFM programme framework for Africa. These include an in-depth analysis of challenges and opportunities for forest management at national, regional and global levels; the identification/suggestion of policy and institutional options to promote and strengthen forest management as an instrument of sustainable development and poverty alleviation; and an overview of capacity enhancement needs at both regional and national levels.
- A workshop was held, where the draft SFM programme framework was developed and validated by 64 representatives from 26 member countries, two RECs, four representatives from AUC, and six representatives of the United Nations system.
- The capacities of women producers’ groups in gum Arabic were strengthened through the organization of training activities, including a one-week training session for selected women actors in the sector in Senegal, with participation from Gambia, Mali and Sudan; and a national training session for selected women producers’ associations in Mali.